http://www.care2.com/greenliving/groovy-green-greeting-cards.html
Groovy Green Greeting Cards
By Kim Master and the Care2 staff.
Consider these creative alternatives to conventional greeting cards that both you and the environment can appreciate. (The ideas are ordered from the least effort to the most effort.)
* Send E-Cards. Care2 offers a gigantic directory of options, and you will not waste a single tree.
* Send 100 percent recycled paper or tree-free cards made by environmental organizations like Defenders of Wildlife.
* Glue pictures from old cards onto homemade or store-bought recycled paper to create new cards.
* Glue pretty paper on the inside of old cards to cover previous writing–and send them again.
Make Beautiful Recycled Paper Out of Paper Shreds
Step 1: Cut junk mail into small shreds, soak it in warm water for about 2 hours, and blend it in a blender.
Step 2: Add small quantities of flowers, grass, and leaves for fun, color, and texture.
Step3: Spread it out on a flat, fine-holed, wire-mesh screen—use a rolling pin to flatten it.
Step 4: Smear a tablespoon of cornstarch over the paper to increase its strength.
Step 5: When it dries, you can use this paper as stationary, to decorate used boxes, or even to make holiday cards. (For an even prettier look, glue dried flowers on top of the paper.)
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64 comments
add your comment »I really appreciate not just only the article, but also the input from all you lovely people, esspecially thanks to Dan!!
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thank you for the info. I am sending care2 cards for my family and helping trees as well, please be happy not this time only but always !!
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sounds good
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great idea :) this is exactly the traditional recipe for paper production :D
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I now have a big cauldron of pulp on the stove as I am writing! I added flowers and leaves. It is a rainy day but I have fans going-- I will update results...........I like the idea of adding seeds to the cardsstock to send to people next spring for growing!!
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my mum and I have decided that this year we are going to choose or make a card and then reuse it every year instead of buying new ones, I have also suggested this to friends and many of them think it is a great idea, each year we will add some little touch to the card, a sticker or a drawing and see how long we can keep it going. I got the idea from my husband as he and his best friend have been doing the same thing with a padded envelope and thats now been going for 15 years
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These are all great ideas! If you don't have time, though, Write Hook.com is a newly launched greeting card company to check out! All cards are FSC certified and are made from 100% post consumer recycled paper (as are their envelopes) using wind powered energy, and printed using vegetable-based inks. A customer can create and customize a card from the comfort of his/her computer and then that card is mailed directly to a recipient or to the purchaser. Five cents from every card purchased is donated to designated non-profits from which the customer can choose. Write Hook combines original photography and graphic design with sentiments and prose that create a witty, unique and fresh twist on the traditional genre of greeting cards. Write Hook has created what they call a “Half-Note” - a flat card that uses half the amount of paper as a traditional greeting card but still has all of the art, message, and impact of a traditional greet. All art and the majority of copy is original to Write Hook. And with Write Hook, a customer can upload/create an address book, set up email reminders for dates, and create cards up to a year in advance and choose future mail out dates. Write Hook is able to do business to business as well. The company was started by two Milwaukee women who wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people and in the community at large. As a busy parent/professional who cares about our environment, Write Hook is a brilliant and is fun to use too.
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I also take old playing cards from incomplete decks; cut decorative edges and use them for gift tags.
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Lovely idea and use of junk mail. i had been looking online for which craft shops sell papermaking kits only the other day. Can 't wait to add the flowers to the paper and see the results. Does anyone have any they have already made they can show?
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Wow, this is the first time I've been here. This Green Living thing is pretty cool.
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